Leg Post 115
Leg Post 115 features the aged Medea visiting her old acquaintance Sauda in the Temple of Luxor, where Sauda had just finished fabricating the anti-power blade on behalf of the NeSferatu, Deir-mon. She, however, did not intend to hand it over and even contemplated using it on him. Medea, however, told Sauda of her aunt Circe's impending second wish, which took Sauda by surprise, having believed Circe's first wish defaulted during the first ritual of Leg Post 101. Instead, her first wish was to become NeSorcerer, but it never defaulted and during the second ritual, of Leg Post 114, she made a second wish. Medea informed Sauda that her wish was to see Sauda lose all of her power, political and magical. But even at this realisation, she was stabbed in the back, Medea's conversation true but a ploy to distract Sauda. Aman Tabiz had used the anti-power blade itself on her, though they found that Moses was unable to use his staff around the sword. Aman had to stab Sauda several times before he realised she couldn't be killed with this sword. It had, however, as per Circe's wish, removed her powers. A moment later and Deir-mon arrived to collect his property, though he was disappointed that it didn't destroy Sauda outright and deemed it in need of alteration. He demanded the weapon and got into a fight with Aman, depowered due to the presence of the sword, which Deir-mon won and left with his sword. Aman was convinced that Deir-mon, who Aman knew to be Count Desmond, knew more of the destruction of Atlantis than he admitted. Sauda had escaped, though she was doomed to be powerless, and Aman and Medea had to return to classes. Moses, on the other hand, went to see his brother, Ramesses II. Once there, Ozymandias refused to return his part of the deal, despite the departure of Sauda, as he had heard that Moses intended to spread the religion of Yahweh and bring down the Egyptian Pantheon. He had heard this from the cruel Angel of Punishment, Mastema. Post Wish Fulfilment Medea: “Sauda! Old buddy, old pal!” Sauda: “Medea… what do you want?” Medea: “Can’t I just be here to see an old friend?” Sauda scoffed. Medea: “Okay, fine. I’m here to help you out.” She flopped herself onto a stack of overstuffed cushions. While much of the government officials had moved to the new capital of Egypt, Pi-Ramesses, the religious head, Sauda, was steadfast in not migrating her organisation to the arrogantly titled city to the north. As far as she was concerned, anyone that moved to Pi-Ramesses was giving the king’s ego a blowjob. She wasn’t prepared to do that. So the Temple of Luxor was still fully decked out in all its usual regalia. Ramesses was in Thebes too, as he had to get married to the Hattusan princess a few days ago, but he would prepare to return to his new capital by the end of the week. Sauda was counting the days. Then she wouldn’t have to think stupid face being within ten miles of her. Sauda sat softly onto a single cushion that was placed by the low table. On the table were a lot of papyrus scrolls with details on the last steps to create her new anti-power blade. The sword was complete, but she hadn’t yet tested it. She considered summoning Deir-mon to test it on him, killing the only one who might know of its existence, but she wasn’t sure how powerful the stranger truly was. A test needed a safer target and now that Medea had lumbered through her door, she was seeing the fates align. Sauda: “Perhaps you are…” Medea: “It’s about fate.” Sauda grew suspicious. Sauda: “What do you mean?” She glanced at the door. Down the corridors was the arcane magick room where her guards were blocking access to the anti-power blade. Medea: “I know why my aunt Circe wished for…” Sauda: “Oh right. I already figured she wished to become the new NeSorcerer.” Sauda smiled confidently. Sauda: “She thought that would be enough to rival me, but didn’t expect I would garner the power of a deity! Silly Circe.” Medea shrugged. Medea: “Yes. That was her first wish.” Sauda: “Well, the first wish didn’t work properly, so the second wish—” Medea: “Your first wish didn’t work properly.” Sauda: “But she said—” Medea gave Sauda a baffled and amused look. Medea: “You thought she wouldn’t lie to you?” Sauda leaned on the table. She wore a pleasant, friendly expression on her face that said, ‘I am infinitely reasonable and do everything in your favour’. Sauda: “You make a fine point, Medea. You do know your aunt better than any other living person. I am very grateful that you’re here to tell me this second wish. Does it pertain to me, somehow?” Medea: “That is so strange…” Sauda rose just a single eyebrow. Sauda: “What do you mean?” Medea: “That’s like some kind of magic all by itself. That weird personality switch you do. I almost want to believe you!” Sauda: “Medea! Have I ever done anything to suggest I am not your friend? I came to you to join my ceremony, remember? Not your aunt, I asked you! My friend.” Medea rolled her eyes. Medea: “You didn’t ask Circe because she’s a threat to you.” Sauda opened her mouth to protest but Medea shook her head and held out her palm; Medea: “It’s fine. I’ll tell you exactly what she wished for, the second time.” Sauda, able to read the signs, knew she shouldn’t say another word, but allow the old-skinned woman to speak her mind. Sauda felt that there was something in her body language that said Sauda would not like what Medea had to say, but she had to hear it anyway. Medea: “She wished this; that you, Sauda, would lose all of your power.” Sauda rocked back. Sauda: “As in, stop being—” Medea: “As in, everything.” Sauda: “Everything?” Medea: “Your social power, your political power, your magical power—” Sauda: “My magic! No! Never!” She leapt to her feet, unable to keep the pleasant visage any longer. She had to instantly make plans to counter this unexpected threat. Initially she questioned how Circe could waste the power of a wish on such a trivial thing, but given the selfish nature of Circe, her desire to be the one and only ultimate mage was easily understood. Sauda had been too busy amassing her own powerbase, she had not considered all the rivals that would try to tear her down. Sauda: “Medea, is your aunt here in Egypt?” Medea: “Highly unlikely. She rarely leaves Ææa.” Sauda: “But how can see--?” Medea: “It’s the wish that will do the work, remember? She doesn’t have to do anything at all. It’s already done.” Sauda closed her eyes and tried to process. Sauda: “Okay. It’s okay. It’s fine. Now that you have told me, dear Medea, we can do a new ritual. Ramesses would refuse me, but bugger him. I’ll do it anyway. Stage a rebellion against him if I must. I will find the wish code she made and undo it. I shall—urk!” She looked down. There was a narrow, white blade protruding from her chest. It didn’t hurt, but it did feel strange. Like it was sapping her very soul. She gasped and took a step forward, only to fall, heavily, to the floor. Medea: “Ouch.” Aman Tabiz: “I didn’t see anything special about this blade.” Moses: “You killed her!” Aman Tabiz frowned at Moses. Aman Tabiz: “It’s a sword. That’s what they’re for.” Medea: “I didn’t even see your friend come in.” She wiggled her fingers at Moses. Medea: “Hullo stranger. Aren’t you handsome.” Moses: “Oh, uh, hello. Sorry, I have a wife.” Medea: “Bugger.” Aman Tabiz: “He has invisibility from that staff. He snuck right past all the guards to get this thing. Only, it stopped the invisibility once he got there.” Moses: “Lucky you were there to rescue me.” Aman Tabiz: “I handled it from there. You were a great distraction.” Medea: “It was easy. I just told the truth!” Sauda: “Ow…” Moses: “She’s alive!” Aman Tabiz: “Let’s try that again then.” Moses: “No, wait--!” Aman yanked the sword from Sauda’s back and stabbed it back down, brutally, through her lower back. He watched. Aman Tabiz: “Strange. There’s no blood.” Medea: “She’s got a lot of magic in her. Could she be fuelled by that instead of blood?” Aman stabbed her again, a few times. Aman Tabiz: “Still no blood.” Moses: “Please stop. This is horrific.” Sauda: “Ow…” Moses: “She’s still--!” Aman stabbed her in the skull and Moses dry heaved. Medea: “Must be some kind of magic—” Sauda: “Ow…” Medea: “No way!” Aman Tabiz: “This sword is the worst sword ever.” He pulled it from the woman’s skull and observed that there was no injury there. No hole, no cut, not the slightest wound. Aman was about to draw a new sword of his own, when Sauda spun over, as though she hadn’t just been stabbed a dozen times, and held out her hand at him. Aman saw his long life flash before his eyes and was annoyed that it was about to end because of a clumsy mistake. He should never have trusted this stupid anti-power thing. Nothing happened. Sauda glared and waggled her hand at him. She then looked at the offending hand and tried again. Still nothing. She tried her other hand. Nothing. Sauda: “No! No!” Medea gasped with amusement. Medea: “It actually happened! She lost her magic after all!” Aman Tabiz: “Truly?” Medea: “I can sense it.” Sauda: “No!! No!!!” She jumped to her feet and was waving her hands about at Aman. Moses: “Is this some kind of exotic dance?” Deir-mon: “Seems the blade needs some refining.” The mysterious NeSferatu was stood in the doorway. He wasn’t so tall as Aman, but his aura made him seem larger than possible. Deir-mon: “It should have destroyed her entirely. A single cut. Instead, it just stole her powers. How disappointing.” Sauda looked pleadingly at her hands. Sauda: “This can’t be true…” Medea: “I expect there’ll be no way for you to regain those powers either. Sorry, Sauda. My aunt is a thorough person.” Deir-mon: “I believe that belongs to me…” Aman took a step back from Deir-mon. Deir-mon: “You would challenge me, Theos? After all this time?” Medea: “Theos? What a girly sounding name!” Moses: “Maybe we shouldn’t fight? We all got what we wanted, right? Sauda is defeated…” Deir-mon: “I want my treasure.” Aman Tabiz: “And why should I allow you to take it?” Deir-mon: “Why shouldn’t you? Don’t you trust me?” Aman Tabiz: “How did you survive the cataclysm?” Deir-mon smiled, fangs flashed through the shadow of his hood. Deir-mon: “How did you survive? By the time of the explosion, I was no longer in Atlantis.” Moses looked at Sauda. Moses: “Do you have any idea what they’re talking about?” Medea: “Shush! Arguments like this always end in sex!” Moses: “Whoa! I don’t want to be here for that!” Medea: “I do~!” Moses: “Sauda!” Moses shouted as the Ethiopian woman slunk out of the room quickly, making her escape. Aman Tabiz: “No you don’t--!” It was all the distraction that Deir-mon needed. Aman Tabiz was a powerful human, superhuman even, but still a human. The NeSferatu moved in the blink of an eye and snatched the hilt of the sword. However, as soon as he touched the weapon, his speed disappeared. He was rarely surprised in his long life, but that was one of them. He knew what the anti-power could do, but he just didn’t factor it into his thoughts. He would need to think on a whole new level in future, to consider the possibility of loss of power. Aman reacted and pulled on the sword. Deir-mon recognised the arrogance of the pull. It wasn’t very strong, it was the kind of pull by a man used to super strength and, suddenly without it. Aman, like Deir-mon, wasn’t used to thinking of zero powers and was caught off guard. Deir-mon struck at the wrist of Aman with his talon-like nails and sliced open the skin. The tendons faltered in Aman’s hand and the sword was seized by the NeSferatu. He jumped back, and held the sword before him. Aman grabbed at his own wrist to stop the blood, but he advanced on Deir-mon. Deir-mon: “Do not underestimate me, Theos. You may be a skilled warrior of weapons, but I was a military commander long before I met you that fateful day. The way of the sword is still in my repertoire. Do you wish to lose all your powers for all eternity, just like our escaping friend?” Aman hesitated. Deir-mon: “Good to see you’re still no fool. I will take my leave then. I hope we never meet again, Theos.” Aman growled and slumped down on the pile of cushions where Medea had been. He clutched at his wrist, but looked at both Medea and Moses. Aman Tabiz: “Can one of you deal with this?” Medea: “Oh! The mighty Aman Tabiz, asking the beautiful maiden Medea for help! This is a first.” He looked away from her. Aman Tabiz: “Moses?” Moses looked at his staff and then at the gushing wrist. Moses: “Maaaaaybe?” Medea rolled her eyes and shoved Moses aside. Medea: “Fine, fine. I’ll do it. Let a professional handle it. He’ll probably blow your whole arm off otherwise.” Moses: “Sorry that Deir-mon guy got the sword, Tabiz.” Aman Tabiz: “What about the witch? Is she really neutralised, Medea?” Medea nodded. Medea: “She’s powerless. She’ll never be able to use magic, or any other supernatural power, ever again.” Moses: “Now that she has no magic to protect her, she won’t stick around for my brother to come after her. I suppose she’s already on her way out of Egypt…” He remembered his own escape and, in empathic, hoped she would be okay. Medea’s magic made short work of the cut as it knotted together the sliced tendons and skin. Aman Tabiz: “These kinds of weapons shouldn’t be allowed in the hands of humanity. Where did that anti-power even come from? I always felt he knew more about the destruction of Atlantis than he let on…” Medea: “Atlantis? As in the sunken city?” He tested his hand by moving his fingers and nodded at her. Aman Tabiz: “Maybe I’ll tell you about it sometime. Right now…” He rose. Aman Tabiz: “It’s almost time for class.” Moses snorted and laughed. Aman Tabiz: “…” Moses: “Oh, you were being serious…” Aman Tabiz: “There’s so much happening in this city. I need to find a place here so I can help people.” Medea: “You want to help people now? I thought you didn’t care about people.” Aman Tabiz: “I do care. I just… care about everyone, not the individuals.” Medea: “That’s plain weird.” Aman Tabiz: “Says the evil witch.” Medea: “Ex-evil. Let’s go to class then. I put bleach into Imhotep’s laundry, so he’s going to look like an idiot today.” Aman Tabiz: “And that’s not evil?” Moses watched them go before he looked around the silent room. It was odd how a place of so much excitement one minute, could become dead silent a moment later. Sauda was gone and his obligation to his brother fulfilled. Moses entered the palace and was led by guards, who claimed to be expecting him. The pharaoh was in the dining hall and, when he saw Moses, he grabbed two goblets of wine, handing one to Moses. Ozymandias: “I heard the good news! Well done, brother! I have no idea how you did it, but I’m impressed that you did!” He led Moses through the hall, drinking his wine as he went. Moses sipped at his cup. Moses: “I can tell you all about it, if you really want? But we need to arrange for my people to go free…” Ozymandias: “Ah yes. The agreement. I would have done as you asked, boy, had you been more honest with me.” Moses: “What do you mean?” Ozymandias: “Planning to establish a rival nation and, most importantly, you want to overthrow the gods? This Yahweh you told me about. You plan to have his religion conquer the whole kingdom.” Moses: “That’s not true! I just—” He stammered because he actually wasn’t sure he knew much about Yahweh’s intentions at all and hardly anything about the religion. He just wanted to help his people out of slavery. Ozymandias: “I heard it all.” Moses: “Heard it? From who?” They reached the next room and Ozymandias swept his hands towards a man stood waiting for them. Ozymandias: “I believe you have met.” The angel’s wings were visible and spread wide, creating a sincere and unwelcome presence. Moses couldn’t help but feel the anger rise within him, despite being such a calm and forgiving man even at the worst of times. But this creature was beyond Moses’ empathy. Mastema: “It is good to see you again, old friend.” Category:Leg Post Category:Post